Stray

Telaranea was taken aback for a rare second.

“It’s rare for me to think of a good solution for you.” The demon shrugged regretfully. “I thought you were a lunatic who was willing to defend the world, but you turned out to be just a boring mortal who’s overwhelmed by love. I suppose you and Mr. Light weren’t just playing around at Clementine Academy? At least now it seems you’re truly in love with him.”

“Yes.” Oliver was calm.

“Even if all this is in vain?” The Sage of the Abyss seemed to be interested.

“The moment I fell in love with Nemo, I knew he wasn’t human.”

Oliver scratched the feather on the grey parrot’s neck, then put it on his shoulder.

“This is not a deal with him. I just happened to fall in love with him. If Nemo still likes me, I would be extremely honored. If he makes it back to the Pillar of the World… I have no idea to deny my feelings because of it.”

“Your call. I never advise in human love. That power is yours and I have no right to tell you how to use it. I just want to witness it to the end.”

Telaranea watched as Oliver closed the black wooden box containing the skull and rubbed his hands.

“Your Majesty, I think you should have a free guest room here? You see, I need a suitable research site, and I can’t take the Demon King’s skull to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild.”

“Yes, there is. Oh god, I’m almost starting to sympathize with Fenrir. There’s something mixed in with the Steel Wolves.” Ann hadn’t time to get rid of the shock in her eyes. “…Forget it. Maybe I should sympathize with myself first.”

She scratched her short hair annoyingly. “Oliver, can I tell Delia? That child is very sensible, and I want to tell her the truth. Maybe she would want to see the world first or something…”

“Of course.”

Oliver nodded, grabbed the back collar of Telaranea, and pulled back the Sage of the Abyss who was leaning against the black wooden box.

“Telaranea, although I won’t use your plan, there are a few details about your proposal that I am very interested in… Is it convenient to talk about it?”

Two days later at night, the world still wasn’t destroyed.

Oliver sat at the wooden table, looking through the ancient books that seemed to be somewhat old in his hand while quickly drawing weird arrays on a parchment. The white nightgown was completely soaked in sweat and attached to his body, but he didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

After quickly memorizing the runes on the second half of the page, Oliver stood up again and clenched his Rest in Peace. A thin gray mist wrapped around the sword’s body, and then an extremely complicated three-dimensional array was formed in the entire space.

Points of light were swimming along the traces of the gray mist, but they moved slower, and finally dissipated in the air. Oliver’s power seemed to be directly sucked away by some invisible monster. He knelt weakly on the carpet as sweat continued flowing down his forehead.

After less than three seconds of rest, he gritted his teeth, stood up again, and built the maze-like array from scratch.

Under the lack of physical strength and magic power, Oliver’s eyes blackened. He wasn’t sure how long he hadn’t slept. He had barely slept the first night since the moment Nemo left him and had tossed and turned all night.

He had tried to force himself to lie in the bed during the night, but he was still awake due to extreme physical and mental fatigue.

Anyway, now he could no longer be regarded as a pure human being. With his current strength, Oliver didn’t think he would die from lack of sleep.

[Starting tomorrow, you need to fight against me.] The white behemoth in his memory had a serious voice. [This time I won’t hold back, if you don’t get serious, you will definitely be killed by me— Well, in a sense, that is one of the solutions to maintain the peace on the surface.]

Combing through his memories, Oliver smiled bitterly. He abruptly shook his head and rubbed his eyes that were slightly painful because of the salty sweat.

[The situation between me and you are too different, and time is limited as well. I can’t teach you by hand how to use the power, but you have the qualifications, and your survival instinct should be able to awaken it. I still say, for now, you can still reject this and choose a mundane life.]

Oliver propped up his body and dragged himself back to the table. With a clear memory, he tried to remember his feelings and the failed plan itself. Sweat dripped on the parchment, blotting out a piece of ink.

Beside him, were piles of parchment paper full of handwriting that was crumbled up.

[I heard that you are still asking Telaranea for advice on attacking our noumenon. I hope you plan to use it to fight me instead of killing the Pillar of the World.]

Jesse’s voice in his memories became more unhappy.

[Taking the liberty of assuming the other’s thoughts in the name of ‘love’ and using it to commit selfish acts— This is one of the most tiresome human behaviors to me. If I find out that you are using me…]

[I love him.] At that time, he gave Jesse only one answer.

Oliver grabbed the water cup at the table and poured a glass of cold water into his parched throat. Then he wiped his mouth and continued to study the spell that theoretically could kill the Pillar of the World.

Just as the leader of Tumbleweed frowned, gnawed at the nib of the quill pen, and hesitated about how the next rune should be arranged, there was a knock on the door of the room.

It was the sound of human knuckles knocking on wood, so it wasn’t Bagelmaurus who was looking for him. Hearing the knocking method, it wasn’t like his swordsmanship instructor Adrian Cross. Ann and Jesse weren’t the type who knocked so Oliver was at a loss at the identity of this guest, and he didn’t bother to use a discovery spell to spy.

“Come in.” He responded in a much simpler way.

Delia Alastair walked into the room in a small step in her day dress. The spider that Nemo transformed was lying on her shoulder, looking a little sluggish.

“…Please wait a moment. I have to change clothes.” Oliver quickly drew the bed curtains on one side, cast a cleaning spell on him, and then quickly changed into a more formal nightgown.

“I was rude, Mr. Ramon,” Delia said, looking away politely. “I’m just here to ask you a question and I’ll leave when I’m done.”

“Ask away.” Oliver buttoned up his collar and carefully drew the bed curtains back.

“Ann told me everything.” Delia fiddled with the thin legs of Cat Whiskers. Her tone was a little stiff. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you kill the Pillar of the World?”

Oliver suddenly woke up from his groggy state. He never thought that Delia would ask him such a question directly.

“I don’t know much about you, but you don’t seem to subjectively deny the type of suggestion made by the other party because of Mr. Telaranea’s origin. As a member of the royal family, I think Mr. Telaranea’s suggestion is perfect.”

Oliver opened his mouth before he thought that it wasn’t a good time to explain.

“Let’s hear your opinion first, Delia,” he responded calmly.

“No matter how important Mr. Light is to you, it is also for you alone. To be rude, you are putting the world at risk for your love. Not to mention that Mr. Light is probably no longer there. Even if he is, I don’t think he will be happy that he will lose control one day and cause innocent people to die as a result. On the contrary, if he doesn’t care about the survival of life on the surface at all, then you should consider the sanity of this relationship.”

She pointed to her eyes. “’The pressure to cause the death of innocent people’… At least as far as my sense of responsibility as a human being is concerned, I have a say.”

“You’re a brave warrior, Mr. Ramon. I believe that the person you love must be as noble as you, and this pressure will make him extremely painful— And according to the proposal of the Sage of the Abyss, if you are willing to use that plan to kill the Pillar of the World. Mr. Light will not suffer from the death of his body and can even survive for hundreds of years. Isn’t that enough?”

“In the worst case, you found that Mr. Light is no longer there, but you have already saved the surface. From any point of view, this is a brilliant idea. I can’t figure it out, and Ann can’t explain it to me clearly, so I’m here to ask you— Why? Why choose the riskier path instead?”

Cat Whiskers curled up its legs and shrank itself up. Delia Alastair was small, but just standing there, her aura was much stronger than Ann’s.

Oliver’s heart was extremely calm, and he didn’t feel anger or offended. He took a few steps closer, hesitantly stretched out his hand, and patted Delia on the shoulder.

“Sampson Alastair once considered a similar issue.”

There was no irony in Oliver’s tone, but he was extremely serious.

“Flint Lopez has a smart mind, and he is also watertight in terms of his life. He should understand better than anyone else the coldness of reality and the cruelty of war and what people ask for is nothing more than fame and fortune. Why should he pursue a useless dancer and no longer serve the country?”

“Let him be free for a few years and let him be immersed in the sweetness of love and then design the accidental death of that dancer and send his own condolences at the right time – Flint Lopez will naturally collect his heart, remember the most important thing about himself as a man, and turn back to build his career. In his mind, that would probably be a pretty brilliant idea, too.”

Delia tensed her face tightly. “I’ve seen a lot…”

“I am not as knowledgeable as you, and I may not understand your pain.” Oliver raised the corner of his mouth. “That’s the problem, Delia. As human beings, none of us can empathize with each other’s emotions.”

“I am not qualified to unilaterally conclude that ‘If Nemo is still there, he must suffer for it, and he is willing to give up his body and almost unlimited life span for mankind’. This is a decision that only Nemo can make by himself. I shouldn’t speak on behalf of him and then kill him.”

Ann’s metaphor is good, Oliver thought to himself. It was like a mayfly fell in love with a sleeping dragon and was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the other party’s dream.

He had no right to think that he had the right to turn the dragon into a mayfly like himself because of that gentle look in his eyes. Even if the dream was fleeting, even if he had to become a dragon slayer…

“But aren’t you lovers? Sometimes lovers just have to think more for each other, right?” Delia’s voice sounded urgent, and finally showed a bit of stubbornness unique to her age.

“It’s because I love him that I can’t do that even more.”

“This is about the whole of Alban, the whole world…”

“Bad things will not become worse because the whole world recognizes them. Delia, you’re very smart. Do you think Prince Eldric has no affection for you?”

“…No, but…”

“Will what he claims to have done ‘for you’ make you happy?”

“Of course not.”

“So I won’t do that either. I respect my lover. If my lover becomes my opponent, I respect my opponent.”

Delia stopped talking, she clenched her lips and stared at Oliver unconvincingly.

“Ok.” After a while, she took a breath. “Thank you for your advice, I will think about it.”

“I believe you will be a good emperor.”

“If Alban can continue to exist.” Delia still pursed her mouth tightly.

“Yes.” Oliver laughed softly. “If I can survive in the next few days, it will. One last point, Your Royal Highness. Another reason why I didn’t choose the Sage of the Abyss plan— I now have a more suitable idea.”

Behind him, the sky outside the window turned slightly white, and there was a glow on the horizon.

A few more days passed.

Since Nemo propped up the illusion, the bottom of the Abyss had changed from eternal night to eternal day.

In the eternal good weather, the Roadside Town in the fantasy was as empty as usual.

Nemo was still sitting close to the door, as if preparing to receive non-existent guests. His hands and feet were already full of books, and although he remembered every word in them, he still looked through them carefully.

How long had he been sitting here by himself?

There was no need to eat or sleep. Large memories of emotionally weak feelings were mixed into his thoughts and Nemo began to doubt the time that had passed. Although it was a good idea to sleep, he was a little worried— In case he woke up and found that hundreds of years had passed, and Oliver Ramon had already passed away…

Nemo sighed softly and closed the book in his hand.

If only he and Oliver had taken a magical photo, even if he couldn’t create a vision of Oliver in his mind, it would still be easy to copy a photo with his memory.

Nemo stood up slowly and decided to get himself a copy of “The History of Magic Camera Technology”.

At this moment, his wrist suddenly softened, and the book in the fantasy slipped to the ground, making a muffled sound.

His body became a little weak and the strength was passing rapidly, much like the state of a human suffering from a bad cold. Nemo didn’t pick up the book and instead walked straight to the door of the library and looked out…

His powers began to be plundered and he couldn’t maintain the stability any longer. The Roadside Town in his fantasy began to collapse from the periphery slowly moving towards the center, and the shining fragments were swallowed up by the surrounding darkness.

Oliver Ramon didn’t choose to stay ordinary for peace and start a new life.

He decided to take matters into his own hands.